| Highlights of Dawn | July 1966 |
God’s Remedy for a Chaotic World
WE ARE now well into the year 1966, and none of the problems which afflicted humanity at the beginning of the year have been solved. Indeed, many of them have become more acute, and new obstacles have appeared in the road to peace. There is a state of ferment in every nation throughout the earth. The outward manifestations of dissatisfaction are seen in strikes, protest parades, riots, and war. It would seem that nearly everyone wants something which he thinks is being wrongfully withheld from him by others.
The war in Viet Nam increases in intensity, with an ever growing number of United States soldiers participating. Thus far the policy makers in the United States who are responsible for the conduct of this struggle have managed to prevent it from escalating into global strife, and they probably will continue to be successful in this effort unless some dire emergency arises which they conclude calls for the use of hydrogen bombs or the invasion of China.
The continued economic prosperity of the United States, induced in no small way by the billions of dollars being spent for war, is now threatening further price inflation, with a resulting decrease in the value of the dollar. That the economy of this country is to some degree supported by the production of munitions of war is reflected in the up and down trends of the stock market in response to indications either of a possible end of the war in Viet Nam or of its escalation.
One of the solutions for inflation being considered by President Johnson is an increase in federal taxes. What a strange situation this is if the prosperity of the President’s “Great Society” must be penalized by an increased burden of taxes! But this is just another evidence that man’s folly and selfishness have led the world into a situation from which human wisdom is unable to find a way of escape.
While the nature of the distress varies from country to country, the people of every nation are helpless in their efforts to find a solution for their problems. The constant increase and spread of knowledge is creating in the hearts of all men and women a growing desire for better things. They want health and life; they want freedom; they want peace and happiness for themselves and for their children. The quest for these blessings is as old as the human race itself. The only difference now is that a larger portion of humanity is asserting itself in an effort to obtain them, and this is due to the increasing enlightenment of the people in these last days.
The Way of Love
Prophecies of the Bible indicate that only by virtue of the educational program to be instituted by Christ’s kingdom will the peoples of earth finally learn that lasting peace and true happiness must be achieved by the way of love, and not by the way of selfishness. Speaking prophetically of the manner in which God’s solution of the world’s problems will become effective, and using the terms “mountains” and “hills” to symbolize greater and lesser kingdoms, David wrote, “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.” (Ps. 72:3) “Righteousness” is obedience to God’s law, and “love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom. 13:10) This means that when Christ’s kingdom is operating in the earth the nations will obtain peace by obedience to God’s royal law of love.
There seems little difference of opinion as to the nature of the blessings the whole world needs. But how to obtain these blessings is what constitutes the baffling problem now facing the human race. It was hoped that the last World War would prepare the way for a new social order of peace and justice, but instead it helped to plummet mankind into the present chaos and distress from which human wisdom cannot find a way of escape.
During that war the United States government set up what was known as the “National Resources Planning Board,” in an effort to have some preparation made to “save the peace” which it was then hoped would be won by war. This planning board, in its report, suggested what it called a “New Bill of Rights” in which were set forth nine “rights” to which it was declared the world is entitled. However, the Planning Board failed to point out any method of implementing these “rights” and thus make them sure to the people. The nine “rights” then listed were:
(1) The right to work, usefully and creatively, through the productive years.
(2) The right to fair pay, adequate to provide the necessities and amenities of life in compensation for work, ideas, thrift, and other socially valuable service.
(3) The right to adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
(4) The right to security, with freedom from fear of old age, want, dependency, sickness, unemployment and accident.
(5) The right to live in a system of free enterprise, free from compulsory labor, irresponsible private power, arbitrary public authority and unregulated monopolies.
(6) The right to come and go, to speak or to be silent, free from the spyings of secret political police.
(7) The right to equality before the law, with equal access to justice in fact.
(8) The right to education, for work, for citizenship, and for personal growth and happiness.
(9) The right to rest, recreation and adventure, the opportunity to enjoy and take part in an advancing civilization.
There are not many people in the world today, nor have there been many in the past, who would have a great deal of objection to these “rights,” for obviously they outline human desires in a fairly comprehensive manner. What the men who outlined them failed to do was to suggest a program for bringing about the fulfillment of these desires. But this was not their fault, for actually they are beyond the reach of human wisdom and ability.
Now, more than twenty Years later, this “New Bill of Rights” seems further from realization than it was when written. There are exceptions, of course, particularly in the United States and some other countries. Today, in 1966, seventy-five per cent of the world’s population is underfed and ill clad, and millions do not even have a shelter at night. Even in these United States the laws of the “Great Society” will be unable to guarantee all these rights to its citizens.
Christ’s Kingdom
Only through the agencies of Christ’s kingdom will the people realize the fulfillment of their legitimate desires. The returned Christ will be the Head and chief ruler in that kingdom arrangement. Ruling with him will be his faithful followers, selected from among all nations since the time of his first advent. The earthly representatives of this congress of divine rulers will be that class of faithful servants of God beginning with righteous Abel and ending with John the Baptist.
As there was a miracle in the resurrection of Jesus at the beginning of the age, so there is now a miracle in the resurrection of his church, and still another miracle in the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies, in order that they might serve as “princes in all the earth.” (Ps. 45:16) With kingdom arrangements of this kind, implemented by miracle-working power, nothing will be able to hinder its dispensing of the life-giving blessings which God has promised.
And how wonderfully this kingdom will assure to the people all their legitimate rights! The people will be given unlimited opportunity to work. “They shall build houses, and inhabit them,” Isaiah wrote. “They shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them,” he added. (Isa. 65:17-25) All the work in that day will be designed for the good of the total community of earth. And, thank the Lord, “the productive years” of the people of that day will never end, for no longer will they need to grow feeble and die!
Justice for All
The Scriptures do not reveal just what the working arrangements of the kingdom age will be. We are assured, however, that justice will be meted out to the people. Concerning King Jesus, the Psalmist wrote, “He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. … He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.”—Ps. 72:2-4
In Christ’s kingdom the people will also be guaranteed “the right to adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.” And the medical care of that time will not be “Medicare,” much as this is appreciated by so many of the elderly in the United States. Jesus will be the “Great Physician” of the kingdom age. He will actually and permanently heal the people of all their diseases. (Rev. 22:2; Ezek. 47:12) Ultimately, of course, the people will not need medical care, for as Isaiah wrote, “The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.”—Isa. 33:24
One of the great objectives of the reign of Christ will be to destroy sickness and death. Paul wrote that Christ will reign until all enemies are put under his feet, and that “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (I Cor. 15:26) This is why we read in Revelation 21:4 concerning that time that there shall be no more death, no more pain, and that all tears will be wiped away.
The principles of “free enterprise” and prohibition of “irresponsible private power” are idealisms conceived by human reason, but we are confident that the social arrangements of Christ’s kingdom will be far more satisfactory than even the highest ideals conceived by man. Certainly no irresponsible private power will be permitted to interfere in any way with that kingdom “enterprise”—an enterprise involving a thousand-year plan by which the fallen race will be restored to lasting peace and happiness in a global paradise.—Acts 3:19-21
Freedom
All the people then will have freedom to do God’s will for their blessing, but not a license to follow their own inclinations. They will not have freedom to speak evil against their neighbors or in any other way to injure them. They will have freedom to do good to their neighbors and to proclaim the glory of God. It will be then that they will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—Isa. 25:6-9
And in that new age the people will surely have “the right to equality before the law, with equal access to justice.” But the laws governing the people at that time will not be manmade. Isaiah wrote, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:3) In this prophecy “Zion” is used to symbolize the spiritual, or invisible phase of Christ’s kingdom. The glorified Christ—Jesus and his faithful followers of the present age—will be the “Zion,” the source of the just laws which will be administered through their human representatives, the resurrected Ancient Worthies, who will constitute the human, or earthly phase of the messianic kingdom. This earthly phase is symbolized by “Jerusalem” in Isaiah’s prophecy, where we are told that “the word of the Lord” will go forth from “Jerusalem.” This “word” of the Lord will be the proper presentation, by the human representatives of the kingdom, of the “law” which goes forth from “Zion,” the spiritual phase. Under this wonderful arrangement of the kingdom the people will learn the true ways of the Lord and in obeying divine law will be blessed with health, life, peace, and happiness. They will learn war no more, and every man “shall sit … under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”—Micah 4:1-4
Education
And the people will truly have “the right to education, for work, for citizenship, and for personal growth and happiness.” Basic in that program of education afforded in the messianic kingdom will be the acquisition of a true knowledge of God. The Prophet Zephaniah wrote that the Lord will then “turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.”—Zeph. 3:9
The entire educational program of that day will prepare the people for lasting citizenship in a global paradise which, under divine guidance and by miracle-working assistance, they helped to create. Those who qualify for eternal life in the restored paradise will be given their “citizenship papers” by the great King. Jesus foretold this, saying, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”—Gen. 1:28; Matt. 25:34
Then there will be “the right to rest, recreation and adventure, the opportunity to enjoy and take part in an advancing civilization.” The human mind is utterly unable to grasp the extent to which these blessings will be enjoyed under the administration of Christ’s kingdom. For a thousand years there will be an “advancing civilization,” resulting in a complete return of the human race to absolute human perfection, mentally, morally, and physically. The reign of Christ will accomplish this, and beyond that thousand years there will be an eternity during which restored mankind will enjoy holy rest, recreation and adventure, the joys of which neither human tongue nor pen can now describe. How appropriate is the comment concerning that glorious future, as presented in “The Divine Plan of the Ages”:
“Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain of sin mars the harmony and peace of a perfect society; not a bitter thought, not an unkind look or word; love welling up from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other heart, and benevolence marks every act. There sickness shall be no more; not an ache nor a pain, nor any evidence of decay—not even the fear of such things. Think of all the pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form and feature that you have ever seen, and know that perfect humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The inward purity and mental and moral perfection will stamp and glorify every radiant countenance. Such will earth’s society be; and weeping bereaved ones will have their tears all wiped away, when thus they realize the resurrection work complete.”—Rev. 21:4